Lian Bichsel will not be part of Switzerland's World Junior team

As the SIHF states, Lian Bichsel did not take part in the U20 national team's summer camp and will also not take part in their preparation camp in Finland despite having received an invitation.

Head coach Marco Bayer and Lars Weibel, Director National Teams, talked with the player and his representatives, emphasizing that for him to become part of the World Junior team, he had to take part in the preparation camp in Finland. Bichsel did, however, decide against it.

"We will not respond to his wish to join the World Junior team without any preparation. Such special treatment of a single player is not in line with our 'Team First!' philosophy – a central pillar of our national teams' philosophy," Lars Weibel states. "We communicated this openly and honestly to the player and his representatives, while also being in constant contact with Leksand and the Dallas Stars. Both are in favor of Bichsel's participation."

As a reaction to SIHF's press release, Bichsel's management has also released a statement: "Lian Bichsel has lived an exceptionally intense schedule this Summer [...] without a single day of vacation until 16th of July. [...] It was necessary to grant the player a two-week break to recuperate."

"The well-being of the player together with a professional approach to injury prevention was the only reason. It is regrettable that Lian’s wellbeing as an athlete is being presented as if Lian is feeling too good to participate in training camps. Lian has made it repeatedly clear he would be proud to skate for Switzerland and [...] confirmed that he could return to action for the training and friendly games in Edmonton the week prior to the tournament."

Be that as it may, the Federation had already made its decision and Bichsel will not play at the World Juniors in Edmonton and will also not be invited by the national team for some time.

( 22 July 2022 | mso )